Electronic devices, such as electronic information storage apparatuses, including hard disk drives, are commonly used for storing and retrieving digital information. Electronic devices are often mounted in a vertically or horizontally stacked array within a structure or cage. For example, a hard disk drive array sled may house a plurality of individually-connected hard disk drives. Such a hard disk drive array sled allows removal and replacement of an individual hard disk drive within the sled without disrupting the other hard disk drives within the sled.
In a hard disk drive array sled, each hard disk drive may be connected to an electrical connector (such as a Serial Attached SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) connector (SAS connector)) within the sled. The electrical connector can then be operatively coupled to a printed circuit board within the sled. A hard disk drive array sled promotes the protection of the electrical connector and printed circuit board, as well as the hard disk drives, during the removal and replacement of the hard disk drives. In this manner, the performance and reliability of the hard disk drives can be maintained.
In some environments, such as those exposing a sled to vibrations and other movements, allowing the hard disk drives and associated electrical connectors to move and flex within the sled isolates vibration disturbances from the drives, which allows the drives to operate more precisely, resulting in higher data density and/or data reliability. In addition, allowing the hard disk drives and associated electrical connectors to move and flex within the sled may reduce damage to the hard disk drives and electrical connectors. However, such movement and flexibility may be detrimental during installation of the hard disk drives into a sled and removal of the hard disk drives from the sled.